Tutorial for Insert Dates, Delete Text, Change Case

The Scenario

Major-General Cuthbert Merry-Hell has a large number of files pertaining to his canon firing times in 2008, and they need cataloguing. Each file is from a different subsequent week during the year, and this needs to be reflected in the name. Also, some parts of existing names (specifying the exact location with a code) are redundant. Finally, in order to be accepted by a rather inflexible piece of essential software (for automated reporting and charting to the brigade), he needs to make sure that all of the file extensions are in lower case. As his second in command, you are given this task – and of course, with your trusty bulk renamer by your side, you know you’re up to the challenge.

The Solution

1. Open RenameMaestro, and drag and drop the files you want into it. You could use the ‘Add Files’ button instead, or right click in Windows Explorer. The files appear like this:

Week 1 - location 076.TXT

Week 2 - location 289.TXT

...

Week 34 - location 107.TXT

Week 35 - location 028.TXT

...

2. Now select the ‘Delete Text’ action. Leave the ‘Delete from’ option as ‘Every name’ for this tutorial. Notice in the files that the week numbers may be 1 or 2 digits, but the location codes are always 3 digits. So un-tick the ‘All of the text’ tick (check) box and change the ‘Beginning at’ drop down list to say ‘The end minus…’ and then type in ’12’ in the text box to the right. Finally type ‘100’ into the last option’s text box so the text reads ‘Delete 100 characters’. So what this does is to remove up to 100 characters from the file name, starting the deletions from 12 characters before the end of the name. You will see that all the last parts of the file names have been removed. Press the ‘Save’ button.

3. Select the ‘Insert Dates & Times’ option. For this tutorial, leave the ‘Insert into’ option as ‘Every name’ and the ‘Beginning at’ option as ‘The end’. Change the ‘Using the format’ box by typing in ‘dd-MM-yyyy’ (you can always either select an item or type in your own format, including spaces if you like). The first Monday in January 2008 was the 7th, so select it in the ‘Date & Time’ box or type it in; ignore the time. Now select the ‘Changing by’ tick box, and change the small drop down list so that the line below reads ‘1 week(s)’. Notice that the ‘Date & Time’ box has changed its label and now reads as ‘From’. Choose the 31st December 2008 as the ‘To’ value. A date for the Monday in each week, correlating to the week numbers already in the names, have now been inserted. Press the ‘Save’ button.

4. Select the ‘Change Case’ button. Choose the ‘Change in’ option as ‘Every extension’, leave the ‘All of the text’ tick box selected, and from the ‘Change the case to’ list choose ‘lower case’. You will see the completed renaming in the ‘Renaming Preview’ list on the right hand side. Press ‘Save’.

5. Finally press the ‘Rename!’ button. If you wish to save the actions for another time, just press the ‘Options’ button and in the screen that pops up choose the ‘Export Actions’ button to save them to a file for repeated use. And your results are here:

Week 1 - 07-01-2008.txt

Week 2 - 14-01-2008.txt

...

Week 34 - 25-08-2008.txt

Week 35 - 01-09-2008.txt

...

The Major-General is a happy man, and thanks to your bulk renaming tool, your promotion is assured!